Wedding Photography

Jackie's youngest sister Amy got married on August 16th. Since I have my fancy new camera I helped out taking pictures at the ceremony and reception. The ceremony was at Dow Gardens in Midland, very beautiful with plenty of good spots for pictures. I got a little shutter happy, taking 1345 pictures, but it was a lot of fun, using the new camera and getting some really cool shots.

Jackie was one of the bridesmaids and look exceptionally beautiful, as you can see in the picture below. Everything went great, and other than being super hot out (in the 90's with lots of humidity) the weather was good.

One of the cool accessories I got for the camera was an external flash. You can aim it in different directions so during the reception I would bounce the flash off the white cealing which made the pictures turn out nice and bright, but without that glossy look from the flash reflecting off people's faces.

If you're interested, all of the pictures can be seen at http://picasaweb.google.com/JandJSchneider.

New Toy

A little over a month ago I got a new toy, a Nikon D90 digital SLR camera. Curt has the same camera and ever since being on vacation with him and comparing our pictures I've wanted one. I've always been really interested in photography, but have never had a really good camera. Now I have one, just need to learn how to use it.

Below are some great pictures I took of a fawn in our yard. Ever since Jackie and I put our garden in there has been a doe and two fawns hanging around in the area, eating much of our garden. I caught this one in the garden one Saturday morning. He wandered from the back yard to the apple tree in the front. I was able to get really close so obviously he doesn't know to be afraid yet.

Free WiFi

That's what else I like about the Pacific Northwest, free wifi. It was free at the Vancouver airport so since I had lots of time to kill I fired up the laptop, got some e-mails taken care of and posted to the blog. Now I'm in Seattle and my iPhone picked up AT&T wifi, also free. Nothing is free at the Detroit airport.

Well, almost time for my red eye. The good news is I've been upgraded to first class so hopefully I can get a little sleep on the plane. Any time I start to think my travel schedule is rough I just think about my cousin Dave's. By comparison I've yet to experience anything close to rough.

Vancouver, BC

I'm sitting in the Vancouver airport right now, waiting for a flight to Seattle. From Seattle I have the red eye home to Detroit. I've been here for over two hours and have three more before my flight. My original plan was get here early and maybe jump on an earlier flight. No luck. I wished I had stayed downtown for a while longer. It was a beautiful day out so it would have been nice to just sit and look at the mountains across the harbor. I have to say I've been to some pretty cool places over the past 5 years or so, but Vancouver ranks right up there at the top.

A couple weeks ago my cousins Dave and Allison were in as well as my Aunt Carol and Uncle Andy. On the 4th of July everyone came up to Port Huron for the day for lunch at our house and a cruise on the Huron Lady. It was just one part of a really great weekend that included Greenfield Village and lots of family time. So we're on the Huron Lady talking about boating with my cousin Dave. He and Allison used to live on the water in Annapolis, MD and loved boating. They now live in England temporarily but really look forward to returning to living on or near the water. Dave and my sister Amy were discussing the water and how it is their favorite place to spend time for vacations. I said something along the lines of "I like the water, but I'm more of a mountain guy." Well Vancouver has proven I do love the water, when they are surrounded by a back drop of beautiful green mountains that seem to rise straight out of the ocean.

I've been here since Tuesday and had some time to do some exploring. It was basically a tease that has just made me want to come back with Jackie. Here's some of the pictures I took. They're just camera phone pictures, but I picked the best ones. Check out the guy below. I was at a park with a road that climbed a mountain, about 3000 feet up. There was a whole group of these guys on these extra long skate boards basically surfing down the road. They were going so fast this guy passed me when I was doing about 40 mph. Crazy!!!

Tour de Cure Part II

Yesterday was the Tour de Cure at Island Lake Recreation Area in Brighton. Jackie and I loaded up early and were on the road just after 7am. We had hoped to be there by 8:30, but some construction closures and a wrong turn on my part got us there just after nine. No problem though as registration was pretty efficient and we were able to get ready just in time for the 9:30 start.


Curt, Noelle and Mary were already there, ready to go. Curt got a cool jersey for raising money and being diabetic, so he started the ride in the front with the other "Red Riders", which is what the jersey said. We joined up with them shortly after as we were grabbing a couple last minutes things from the car.

The five of us had signed up for the 25 mile route, which left Island Lake Recreation Area, headed over and around Kensington Metropark, then back into Island Lake. The weather was perfect and it turned out to be a great ride, with around 800 other riders out there. We even ran into another Team Sandbag member, Brian, who was out there riding as well.

At the final rest stop of the day Jackie and I were grabbing some snacks when she says to me "hey, it's Ron." My first thought was "Ron who?". We're big fans of the show Biggest Loser, and one of the contestants from last season was there helping at the aid station. He's from South Lyon, MI which is just a short drive away. We talked with him a bit and got a picture.

All in all it was a great day.

Tour de Cure

Jackie and I are going to be riding in the Tour de Cure with our friends Curt and Noelle on June 14th at Island Lake Recreation area. Its a organized charity ride to benefit the American Diabetes Association. Curt has been a type 1 diabetic for a while now so it will be great to come out and ride with him. Jackie did it with them a couple years ago and really enjoyed it.

If you're interested in donating to us you can do so online, Jackie or Jason. Thanks.

Unfortunately it is the same day as the Ruby race, but I'm not exactly in racing shape anyways so no big deal.

No Lumberjack for me

Well, my Lumberjack disappointment is coming early this year. I've decided to throw in the towel on the race as I'm nowhere close to being ready and simply don't have the time to prepare for a 100 miler right now. That's due to a number of things, but nothing bad. The past few months have been very busy with work, lots of travel and long hours here. Apparently the hard work is paying off though as I recently received a promotion. I basically knew it was coming, just wasn't sure exactly how or when it would. Now I'm fully responsible for all of our marketing activities, report directly to the president of the company. Right now my job won't change a lot, just more accountability, but as we grow I will hopefully be adding some staff which will definitely transform the department.

We also have a lot of projects going on at home right now. Last year we finally finished the deck (thanks mostly to Lee and Sergio) and some landscaping around it. This year Jackie really wants to start a vegetable garden. The past couple years she has had a couple tomato plants and some basil planted along the house, but we decided to due something bigger this year. Since I need to cut all the sod out for the garden I figured I might as well rent a sod cutter and finish up the landscape beds around the yard too. Jackie and Jill picked it up yesterday after work, hoping to get everything done last night since the weather forecast wasn't looking the best. Well, before I could even finish cutting the lawn it poured rain, harder and harder. The yard was actually flooded in spots, but once it stopped for a while I decided to give it a shot to see if it would be too muddy. It cut really well and the wetness didn't seem to be a factor. The sod cutter was amazing. I ended up cutting out the garden and areas for a bunch of landscape beds in about 15-20 minutes. It would have easily taken me a full day with a shovel, if not longer. Today it's rainy, but hopefully I can still get some work done. Still lots to do, finish the garden, put in the plants in the landscape beds, put in some type of edging around the beds, groundcover. Then, when that's all done we're planning to put in a shed. So, like I mentioned above, not a lot of time for riding now.